The Art of the Branch Site Selection Edition
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The Book on Everything About Branch Site Selection
Peruse any business book atop the bestseller lists, and you’ll find a veritable smorgasbord of topics addressing investment strategies, office politics, and personal success. The book with everything you need to know about branch site selection?
Crickets.
Save your Google search. We already checked, and you won’t find that topic on that list. But you will find what you need right here, in this blog post.
We’re calling it The Art of the Branch– Site Selection Edition
Introduction
Branch site selection starts with – not surprisingly – finding a desirable location. But before you put a hard hat on and invite the mayor over for a photo op, here are a few questions you should be asking:
1. The Plot Points
Location is the “where.” A branch is the “what.” Grand opening is the “when.” And the “who” is whomever is writing the check!
That leaves the “why” – Can you build a business case for the branch? In a fin-tech and omni-channel banking world, understanding why to invest in a branch is critical. For banks and credit unions, that’s loans and deposits.
Just as important is the “how.” For branch or main office opportunity to be realized, then the process has to move from strategy into action. Many firms speak to market opportunity or back off analysis for a main office. Even more firms design and construct financial facilities. However, it is taking action on the best location that brings branching, and a new main office to life.
2. The Characters
Brokers – Selecting the best site for a branch or main office opportunity is not a matter of selecting the right broker. Brokers serve a role in choosing the site, but brokers are not the answer. In branch site selection, it’s about realizing business opportunity through the combo of market analysis and real estate procurement.
Landowners – In retail development, few businesses stir the cockles of a landowner’s heart like pharmacies and (you guessed it) banks and credit unions. They know what you know. The correlation of location, and performance, that is realizing business opportunity, is worth a hefty price.
Builders – We cover this group extensively here.
Our Story – You’ve come to the best part!
The process of bringing your branch to market determines its ultimate success. This is where LEVEL5’s real estate procurement process, during site selection, separates itself from everyone else.
What if you could get the property you want, and the owner would not know it was you? You could avoid the premium and have a greater opportunity to perform.
Our proprietary process veils your identity to protect you from the market, the owner and yourself. Our approach also negotiates contracts and performs all due diligence (surveys, environmental, and geotechnical tests). Brokers do not perform any of these services. They don’t study markets to define loans and deposits, they don’t negotiate contracts, and they do not handle due diligence.
A Happy Ending
Since 2011, LEVEL5 has annually procured between $20 and $25 million in property for banks and credit unions across the country. Driving predictability has allowed these institutions to outgrow their peers by a 3x multiple. Since the branch is still location driven, then selecting the best site is key to performance.
Epilogue
When it comes to branch site selection, the approach matters. If the business opportunity in a market can support the branch, then the critical component that takes the opportunity from good to great is how we procure the real estate.
